Apple's Electric Car is Now a 'Committed Project' With a Target Ship Date of 2019 [Report]

Apple has upgraded its electric car to a 'committed project' giving it a target ship date of 2019, reports the WSJ.

The go-ahead came after the company spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car, including meetings with two groups of government officials in California. Leaders of the project, code-named Titan, have been given permission to triple the 600-person team, the people familiar with the matter said.

While Apple has hired experts in self-driving vehicle technology, the company doesn't plan to make its first vehicle autonomous, according to sources. However, it's in the long term plans.

The company clearly sees an opportunity to become player in the automotive industry, perhaps inspired by Tesla. It will likely use the expertise it's acquired in the areas of batteries, sensors, and manufacturing to its vehicle.

A 2019 "ship date" is viewed as ambitious by industry analysts; however, it could mean the date that Apple signs off on the final version of the car rather than the date customers receive the product.

It's unclear who would be manufacturing the vehicle. Apple could partner with another car manufacturer such as BMW, use contract manufacturers like Hon Hai, or build its own plant.

We'll have more details as they become available. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or RSS for updates.

It takes 1 billion dollars to buy and set up a car manufacturing plant. That costs includes all robots and equipment required to churn out cars. That figure is something apple can more than afford. So anyone who says apple can't do it is just as wrong as Steve balmer was when he predicted no one would ever pay that kind of money for a phone with no keyboard.